What's the most affordable AR?

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raftman

New member
I'm a pretty devout AK guy, but not so closed minded as to not give a fair chance to something a little different. Had an S&W variety for a very little while but ran into a bit of financial trouble before even getting at all familiar/attached to it and sold it off. Only managed to get one range session in, and fired barely 100 rounds before selling it. It seemed like a decent gun, even if it did give me an FTE or two.

In any case, I'm in a position to give the platform another chance but really don't wanna spend $1,000, or even $900, if possible, maybe even keeping it under $800. Seems like there's quite a few manufacturers out there, almost none of which I am personally familiar with. I'm not seeing much that I'd call particularly inexpensive, other than maybe the Century C15's which are priced at a very attractive $630, but come attached to Century's spotty reputation for quality control.

Soo... anyone have any recommendations for a decent, yet affordable AR? Or it better to avoid cheaper ones entirely as only the spendier ones are good?
 
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attila787

New member
You can start with CDNN they have the M&P for 599.00 heck of a deal. Also look at DPMS they are among the cheapest, but they are considered on the lower end. I have two and both function great and are very accurate.

Del-ton is another cheap price wise AR.
 
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raftman

New member
Danny,

That's a heck of a price, but "sold as-is, no returns" is kinda off-putting, even Century will provide some sort of warranty.

As far as building my own goes... is that more cost-effective? And furthermore is it easy to do?
 
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Quentin2

New member
Raftman, building/assembling an AR is easy to do if you're fairly handy with tools. It's certainly much easier than building an AK!!!

Most people buy a stripped lower receiver and build it up then add a complete upper. I went this route last summer for my first AR and it came in at about $800, this year it would be a little cheaper.

No special tools are required (nice to have but not required) for building one lower but you probably would need $50-100 in tools for the upper, another reason to buy one complete.

I would start researching ARs and make a list of specs for YOUR rifle then go with quality parts that meet or exceed your requirements. I researched many months (partially due to panic buying/high prices after the 2008 election) before buying my first part. The waiting paid off, prices came back down and parts availability went up. I am still more than satisfied with the rifle I built and it functions perfectly. I would have never found anything as good as it as a complete factory built gun for the same price.
 
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wnycollector

New member
Even it you don't want to build your whole AR, buying the upper and lower separate can really save you some $$$. I picked up a RRA national match lower w/ a sweet 2 stage trigger for $325 including shipping and transfer via gunbroker. I added a 20" 20" upper (1:9 government profile barrel) from Del-ton for $420 total. I picked up a used burris pepr mount for $40 and used leupold 2-7x33 scope for $100 via ebay. If you take your time and pick up quality parts when the deals arise, you can build what you want inside your budget.
 
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beeenbag

New member
I have a stag model 3 (flat top) that was picked up under $900. The model 1 is even cheaper if you want just irons. My stag has ran flawless for 1500 rounds with everything I have fed it. Also has lifetime warranty.
 
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